Rutgers-led research team receives $6.5 million federal grant to advance lung cancer prevention
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Middlesex County) — A Rutgers-led research consortium has received a $6.5 million federal grant to develop advanced tools aimed at improving lung cancer prevention, screening and survivorship care while helping policymakers evaluate tobacco control strategies.
The five-year award from the National Cancer Institute will support a multidisciplinary team of researchers from seven universities working to develop next-generation modeling tools to guide public health policies and state-level cancer prevention planning.
The research will be led by Jamie Tam, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute and a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies.
Rafael Meza, a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will serve as a co-leader and one of the project’s six principal investigators.
“With new nicotine products on the market and tobacco control programs facing cuts, the landscape for lung cancer prevention is changing rapidly,” said Tam. “As tobacco use patterns, screening technologies and treatment approaches evolve, we need tools that can anticipate future challenges and evaluate interventions before they are implemented.”
The grant is being awarded through the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, known as CISNET, which uses mathematical and simulation models to evaluate cancer prevention, screening and treatment strategies.
Despite significant advances in tobacco control and lung cancer screening, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, accounting for an estimated 125,000 deaths annually.
Researchers said the newly funded project will help public health officials better understand the potential effects of emerging tobacco and nicotine products while evaluating strategies to reduce lung cancer cases and deaths.
“With a suite of six lung cancer natural history models and a proven record of clinical and policy impact, we are using leading-edge modeling to address emerging challenges and inform decision-making across the lung cancer control continuum,” said Tam, who serves as the contact principal investigator for the project.
The Rutgers-led consortium includes researchers from Stanford University, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Purdue University, the University of Michigan and Harvard University.
Together, the institutions will use advanced simulation modeling to study changes in tobacco and nicotine use, assess lung cancer screening strategies and provide evidence to guide future public health decisions.
“As New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, we are uniquely positioned to advance research that deepens our understanding of the factors that contribute to cancer and identify opportunities to prevent it,” said Steven K. Libutti, senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health and the William N. Hait director of the Rutgers Cancer Institute. “Our Cancer Prevention and Control Program is leading efforts to drive meaningful change through research, evidence-based interventions, and policy initiatives that improve public health and reduce the burden of cancer across our communities.”
A major focus of the research will be addressing disparities in access to lung cancer screening. According to the American Cancer Society, fewer than 20% of eligible individuals undergo lung cancer screening despite its demonstrated effectiveness in detecting the disease.
Researchers also noted that many people diagnosed with lung cancer would not have qualified for screening under current eligibility guidelines, suggesting that existing screening approaches may fail to identify some individuals at elevated risk.
“Simulation modeling and data-driven research are vital to addressing these disparities,” Meza said. “By quantifying tobacco use and disease burden in specific subpopulations, we can also identify optimal strategies to detect lung cancer early and reduce lung cancer incidence and mortality in each subpopulation.”
For more than 25 years, the CISNET Lung Working Group has used comparative modeling to evaluate lung cancer prevention and screening strategies. Its research has helped shape national screening guidelines and policies intended to reduce lung cancer deaths across the country.
The new funding will allow researchers to expand that work by incorporating emerging tobacco products, evolving screening technologies and changes in treatment approaches into models designed to support evidence-based decisions.
“This award reflects the strength of Rutgers’ longstanding leadership in tobacco research and cancer prevention,” said Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies and associate vice chancellor for health policy and regulatory science at Rutgers Health. “By combining expertise in tobacco use, policy, epidemiology, and simulation modeling, this collaboration will generate evidence that will reduce the burden of lung cancer and improve population health,” said Delnevo, who is also a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute.
